Ussu Held Successful Exhibition

An exhibition on 'Singapore - Her People and Future' was held from 10th Jan. to 18th Jan. by the University of Singapore Student Union (USSU).

The Exhibition materials offered a closer study of the Singapore society, economy and history. According to the organisers the idea of holding an exhibition on Singapore actually sprang out from the past 2 years' experience.

The Suara Mahasiswa (Voice of the Ungergrads), an USSU publication, said - 'The many eye-opening and traumatic events disclosed a lot of facts in the Singapore society which we never knew about. We, University students, have become so cut off in our Ivory Tower existence that we seemed to have lost touch with our people. It took the dramatic shock of the frame-up and the deportation to wake us up to realities. (On 1st November 1974 Tan Wah Piow, the then President of USSU, was arrested on charges of 'unlawful assembly' and 'rioting' and was subsequently found 'guilty'. Five office bearers of USSU were deported to Malaysia. See FNS Vol. 1 No. 1 & 6).

Questions arose and answers were sought for. Why are our workers suddenly left without jobs? Why is their plight neglected? Why do we allow malpractices to occur in retrenchment? Why did the Trade Union not fulfil its duty to the workers? Why a frame-up was resorted to? Why were the key witnesses in the 'riot' trial deported? And most important of all, why was it a crime to be concerned with our people's problems?

We students must face up to these questions. What is the root cause of all the many ugly phenomena? To find out we would need to study our society, to learn to explore, to probe and to question more. Not only a handful of students but as many people as possible should begin to understand our own society more deeply if the present situation is to be improved upon.

That is why the exhibition was planned for all people, students and other, to have a closer look at our Singapore society, our economy and our history. If we are truly responsible to our society, we must sincerely keep searching for better understanding and make efforts to spread this understanding to others.

The Exhibition attracted over 10,000 people. Donations from the people were so good that the organisers expect that it may be possible to cover the entire cost of production of the Exhibition.